


Begin Again (Part 2 - The Unused / Unfinished Scenes)

by N448



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Deleted Scenes, Depression, Kidnapping, Octo Expansion DLC Spoilers, Post-Octo Expansion DLC, Suicidal Thoughts, Turf War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 00:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19712455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N448/pseuds/N448
Summary: Throughout the course of Begin Again Part 2, I created plenty of scenes and events that I eventually didn't end up using. I want to share them today as bonus scenes, as a taste of What Could Have Been.Contains alternative scenes and chapters for Part 2 "Legacy" in various states of completion. Many of these scenes spoil elements of the Octo Expansion.





	1. Preface / A Primer

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Begin Again (Part 2 - Legacy)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16949667) by [N448](https://archiveofourown.org/users/N448/pseuds/N448). 



Hello!

This 'fic' assumes you've read Begin Again Part 2 "Legacy" and are aware of who's who, as this work is solely dedicated to writing that either didn't make it into Part 2 or was scrapped. I'll explain each situation in each chapter's notes here.

For the sake of people who may come to this and have not read the two main parts (and you really should!), here's what you should know...

* * *

**The Agents**

  * Agent 3 (Remo) is older, more matured, and thanks to continued training after his rescue of the Great Zapfish, is generally better able to handle tense situations. He has long lime-green hair, and discoloration of his right iris and the skin around it, from when he was under Commander Tartar's control.
  * Agent 4 (Lorne) is barely an adult, with the attitude and outlook to match outside of her 'work', but has proven herself under the tutelage of Marie, having rescued the Great Zapfish the second time, and helped recover Callie from the clutches of the Octarians. She also has long hair (orange).
  * Agent 5 (Lily) is ex-human, and the subject of these fics! She was changed through contact with Agent 4's leftover ink in Tentakeel Hideout, so they look almost like twins, except for their hair color - Lily's is a bright happy blue. She's trying to collect artefacts (human technology, mostly) that travelled through time with her.
  * Agent 8 (???) is still trying to figure out his identity. He may not remember his true name anymore, or what his job was before the Metro claimed him, but he knows this: that girl collecting human things, right after the defeat of a human AI? Probably no good.



**The Situation**

For most of Part 2, Captain Cuttlefish and Agent 3 are still underground, watching over the citizens of the Deepsea Metro after the loss of power from somewhere up above. But they do have a connection to Agent 8, Pearl and Marina through the latter's chatroom. None of these characters are yet aware of the work that Agents 1 and 2, and 4 and 5 have done.

So when Agent 5 gets outed as human, soon after Tartar's defeat... why wouldn't they go after her?

Part 2's story is about these conflicts - between Lily and Off the Hook, and between the two 'factions' of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

**This Work**

So what is this about, then?

I decided I wanted to share the stuff that I write that didn't get into the fic. I 'write by the seat of my pants' a lot - while I have a general idea of where I want the fic to go, I rely a lot on character interactions to get me there. Sometimes I look at what I've written and decide it doesn't work out, or that it 'gets there' too quickly, so it gets scrapped for something else. That's this stuff!

Note: You may notice some writing is identical to parts of the final chapters. Yes! This is where those scenes or descriptions initially came from. I didn't want to waste the writing I didn't use, so where I felt I could incorporate parts of it, I did!


	2. Spirits ("Human After All" Alt Ending)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an alternate ending to the chapter "Human After All", which takes place after the scene which ends in Lily planning her trip back to Agent 4's apartment. Most of this was written in a state of depression. Ultimately scrapped and re-done for a bigger confrontation.
> 
> **Warnings for depressive/suicidal natures.**

_Of course_ , she thought bitterly to herself, shrinking back behind the occupied seats she had been standing next to as Marina and the Octo boy boarded the carriage, on the other end.

Lily grabbed her phone again and shot off another message to Lorne. “Of course they’re on my train”.

_I can’t believe they’re hunting me like this. I guess they had better be safe than sorry._

She thought about her friends, and the hurt she was putting them through.

She thought about the world she found herself in, and knew she didn’t want to see it go away.

Just as in the human world, she found herself thinking that she didn’t need to exist.

And the more she thought, the more her feelings strove to convince her that it was ‘the only way’.

With one last message to Lorne, she committed herself to the path she was about to take.

“I’m sorry. I hope everything goes back to normal soon.”

She stood up. Moving automatically, she made sure that the two Octolings saw her, and started walking down the opposite way, towards the far end of the train.

Confused, Marina followed her, Agent 8 behind her. “Wait…” Marina called.

Lily didn’t stop. She stepped outside, transferring from one carriage to the next, feeling empty.

Once they had reached the back end of the train, this carriage empty, she knelt down, head bowed, facing away from the two Octolings. _My friends’ lives don’t deserve to be ruined over me._

Glancing over at each other, they carefully, nervously approached her. She didn’t move.

“…What are you doing?” Agent 8 said.

In a quiet, sad voice, Lily said, “I’ll… be the first one to admit that humans have the capacity to be terrible. If you truly believe that you have to kill me to be sure your world is safe… then I’ll understand. And forgive you.” She closed her eyes and awaited the end.

Agent 8 stared at her, then at Marina. Marina didn’t say or do anything. Her mouth just hung open.

After a pause, the boy set down his backpack and rummaged through it.

He pulled out his Octo Shot, checked the ink stored in it, and gently pressed the muzzle against the back of Lily’s head.

Nobody dared move.

“…I really don’t like this,” Marina finally said. She felt a little sick at what they were about to do. “We can’t give her this. This is too much.”

Eight nodded slowly. That this creature had just given up so easily…

He lowered the Octo Shot, the muzzle slipping away from Lily’s head.

“No, please,” the human inkling said shakily. “I beg you. End me.”

Eight glanced over at Marina again, who was trying to think of a solution. This had clearly gotten out of hand.

Marina knelt down over the backpack, trying to find something, anything to get out of this situation. She spotted something promising inside and pulled it out.

A jar.

She nodded at Eight, opening it up. “If that is what you truly want…”

Eight raised his weapon again…

* * *

The Square was nearly empty as Sheldon locked up the store. It was 8pm. The moon had long since risen.

He felt dejected. He’d blown it for Lily. He’d damaged a nearly year-long friendship with Off The Hook. And now, he wasn’t sure if he’d see the human again.

He had seen Off The Hook return to the studio some time later, with a boy he’d met only once previously, but Sheldon had refused to make eye contact.

Neither he, Lorne, nor even Marie had managed to get a response from Lily’s phone or social media either. After a cryptic message to Agent 4’s phone, she’d just… vanished.

As he made his way across the Square to the station to head home, he saw Marina sitting by the door to the studio, almost curled in a ball, looking down at the ground. She glanced up as he passed, and his eyes darted away.

“Sheldon, wait…”

He ignored her, kept walking.

“Sheldon, she’s right here. She’s okay.”

That got him to stop. He took a closer look at her. It seemed like she’d been… struggling with today’s events herself. Inky green trails ran down her cheeks… tears? Had she been crying?

Next to her, though difficult to see in the dimmer light, was a jar, filled with something blue.

“I… heard about what happened with Pearl,” she said quietly. “And… while I’m still concerned about her potential… I’ll admit we pushed this too hard. Right now I’m worried about the… human’s mental state.”

“That’s rich. What changed your mind?”

“She…” Marina wasn’t really sure how to word this. She decided to just come out and say it. “Sheldon, she wanted me to kill her.”

Sheldon stared at her. It took him a few seconds to parse what she’d just said. Lily… suicidal? He’d not seen any evidence to that before… But that would explain the last message she had sent…

“Where… is she now?”

Marina looked up at him with pleading eyes, and then slowly lowered her head down towards the jar by her feet. Sheldon followed her gaze.

The jar… the blue thing inside. He looked closer.

It was a squid spirit. It was Lily.

Her form filled the jar, such that the little spirit couldn’t move. She just stared up at them with sad eyes, slumped against the side and not moving at all.

“I’m sorry, Sheldon,” Marina said softly. “It happened on the train. It was the only way we could prevent anyone from being hurt for real.” She recounted to him what had happened on the train.

The crab was stunned for a few moments. “Marina…”

“I’ve done enough damage today.” She picked up the jar, and held it out towards Sheldon. “Take her to her friend. Keep a close eye on her. And… maybe keep her in there for a bit. I don’t know if she’ll keep trying to…” Marina lowered her gaze.

“…Okay.” He took the jar in one hand, holding it by the lid. “We _all_ need to have a good long, _civil_ discussion about all this eventually, Marina.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She paused for a minute, and, remembering, pulled Lily’s phones from her pocket. The squid phone had been dropped during the altercation. “You should have these back too. The… glass on the back of her other phone is a little scratched from the scuffle at the hotel, but otherwise it’s perfectly fine.”

Sheldon took them too, pocketing the devices. And with that, Marina went back to looking down at her shoes. “I’m just going to stay here for a bit longer.”

Sheldon nodded, and adjusted his hold on the jar. “Goodnight, Marina.”

And he left for the station.

* * *

He’d never been to Agent 4’s apartment before, and normally he’d not consider making house calls. But this seemed like an extraordinary circumstance. He knocked gently on the door.

“What?” the choked voice of Lorne yelled from behind the door. As expected, she was not coping with today’s events well either.

“It’s… it’s me. I’ve got good news and bad news. Will you let me in?”

She opened the door nearly half a minute later, and Sheldon could easily see why. The lights were off, bar the screen of her phone. And tears were streaked down her face as well.

The shopkeeper stepped inside and, as he passed the kitchen bench, Lorne saw him place down a jar… and both of Lily’s phones.

There seemed to be something in the jar, but she couldn’t quite make out what. She flicked on the lights, blinding herself temporarily, and, looking closer, noticed the sky-blue spirit slumped inside, barely moving.

“…Sheldon… is that…?”

“That’s the good news.” Sheldon nodded softly, and watched as Lorne grabbed the jar and hugged it tightly to her chest, ‘embracing’ the tiny squid inside. That at least made him smile.

“…Then what’s the bad news…?”

Sheldon sighed. “Agent 4, she… Marina gave her to me. She caught up with Lily on the train and she… she said Lily wanted Marina to kill her. I think the message she sent you was her… saying goodbye.”

The brief moment of joy Lorne had was gone. She lifted the jar up to her face, looking at Lily. She started to choke up again. “…Why, Sheldon? Why would she want to die?”

Sheldon shook his head. “From what I was told, I guess she… felt that that was the only way to make things right, after she got exposed.”

“But… it wouldn’t! She—“

“I know…”

Silence.

“It’s… up to your discretion, but… I was told that we should not let her respawn for a while. She might keep trying to… leave us.”

“…Okay,” Lorne said sadly, with a little sob. She glanced down at the squid in the jar, and hugged it again. Sheldon said nothing, letting her work out her emotions as they stood in silence for a minute or two. “...Don’t worry Sheldon. She’s in good hands. We’ll bounce back from today.”

“Mmm.” Sheldon nodded, and started addressing Lily directly. “We will get to the bottom of this. But for what it’s worth, you’ve not been outed yet, Lily. They’ve not said anything on the news. I suspect from talking to myself and Agent 4 that Marina and Pearl realise that things are a bit more… complex than this ‘doom’ that they are thinking.”

“Yes.” Lorne lifted the squid up to eye-level. “We know it’s not your fault that you ended up here in our world. We’ve known you for long enough that I feel confident in saying that you are our friend.”

Lily at least felt a little better hearing this. She wished she could have told them about the boy who was with Marina. As it was, in this sort of form, she couldn’t see clearly more than a few meters out of her jar, nor could she feel or speak.

She did wonder why even in this harmless form they would not let her out. She pushed herself against the lid of the jar, then as they watched, slid around the edge in a counter-clockwise fashion, as much as she could in the cramped space anyway, hoping they would understand that she wanted them to open the jar.

“Well, that’s certainly the most movement I’ve seen her make since I picked her up,” Sheldon commented. “I… oh! No, Lily. We can’t let you out even if we wanted to.”

“Huh? Oh, yeaahh.” Lorne understood what was going on now. “You’re actually safe in there. You can spend a little time in the open air away from the ink pools, but too long and the air would actually tear you apart. Unless you’ve got an Anchor, if you’re not careful…” She let the sentence go unfinished.

This made the little spirit sad again. She seemed to roll her eyes, then whacked herself against the glass, finally settling herself down at the bottom again, and closed her eyes. She was going to get some sleep if she could. Lorne decided to set her down by her bedside dresser.

“Would… would she have known that?” Sheldon asked.

“I don’t see how,” she said, and she gestured for Sheldon to follow her to the door.

They were both silent for a bit. “…Man,” Lorne said, wiping her hands over her face. “What a disaster today has been.”

“Yeah… At least Lily is alive, and hopefully Off The Hook will let it be for a while. I hope long enough that when Lily is better, she is comfortable talking with them about the whole ordeal.”

“…I guess they are going to find out eventually, huh.”

“I mean, their theory of a human in Inkopolis got confirmed. They’re probably wondering exactly what her relationship to you and me is, why we know what we do.” As Sheldon spoke, he checked the time on his phone. “Oh, man. My wife’s gonna be worried sick. I could talk about this for ages, but… I’d better get moving.”

“Alright, Sheldon. Thank you for bringing her here. Try and get some sleep.”

“Hey, same to you. I’ll let Marie know Lily’s in safe hands.”

“Alright. Goodnight, man. Thanks again.”


	3. Revelation / We Are One ("Going Wrong" Alternate)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was initially how Human After All was followed up, with OtH showing Lily exactly _why_ they were worried about her. I enjoyed writing this sequence, but I didn't use it in the end because I felt that it resolved some threads too quickly, and emotions between different factions changed too quickly.
> 
> It was also written before I worked out/decided how long ago the events that began the Octo Expansion had occurred.

When Lily came to, the first thing she noticed was the loud noise around her. Mechanical. A vehicle of some kind.

The second thing she noticed was that she was blind. Someone had bound her hands and feet, and stuck a bag over her head. She was sitting on some bench, wherever she was. She could feel a strap, like a seatbelt of some kind, holding her in place.

The pain began to hit her again in waves. Intense pain in her cheek and in the side of her stomach. She clenched her teeth and tried not to vocalise anything. It was hard to think through all this pain. _Wow, they're really not taking any chances with me_ , she realised. She hoped that nobody had noticed her slight shifting. For now she wanted her captors to think she was still out for the count.

_That noise sounds like... a helicopter, I think. I guess I must be on board._

_Where are they taking me?_

She heard footsteps approaching. “We’ve just left Inkopolis airspace.” It was Marina’s voice. “Any minute now.” There was the sound of the unspooling and click of a seatbelt next to Lily.

“I can’t believe we’re coming back here.” Pearl.

“It was your idea. We don’t have to stay long.”

“Hey, if she turns out to be in cahoots, can we leave her there?”

“…I’ll get back to you on that.” _Oh, wonderful._ “You doing okay over there, Eight?”

“…I’ll manage,” Eight grunted. It sounded like he was on the other side of Lily. “I’m noticing a trend in dirty tactics from these humans and their creations.”

“That’s the second time you’ve been on the receiving end of that now,” Marina said. “I’m impressed with your restraint, Eight, all things considered. Hang on, communication from the cockpit.” There was a pause. “Got it. Bring us around to face side, then we’ll get this thing started. Okay, hold tight everyone, we’re maneuvering into position.”

Lily didn’t get much time to brace herself before the world started to tilt beneath her and her body slumped forward, held in place by the seatbelt. The person on her right, someone female, grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her back upright, then tugged on the belt to make sure it was on tight, making sure the ‘unconscious’ body of Lily didn’t tip over again.

The heli tilted back in the opposite direction and seemed to slow.

“Alright, we’re here. Why don’t you two grab a drink from the bar and I’ll wake her up.”

“…That didn’t sound like a question.”

“It wasn’t,” replied Marina. “I need a moment to talk to her, convince her to co-operate.”

“…Alright, you do you." Pearl sounded skeptical. "Come on, Eight, I’ll show you where the good stuff is.” Lily heard both Pearl and Eight get up from their seats and walk away (limp away, in Eight’s case), opening and closing some hatch door behind them.

Lily waited a few seconds to make sure they were both gone, and then cleared her throat. “I’m already awake…” she said quietly, a little slurred from the pain. She couldn’t hear herself over the helicopter, so she repeated herself louder, and she heard Marina’s small gasp. “I’m sss-sorry about before. I… agh… I was on my way out of town… I don’t want to hurt anyone…”

“I get that…” Marina said. She was close. “At least, I’m open to that idea now. Even if you literally did injure us.”

“I... I thought you were going to kill me...”

Marina said nothing for a moment. _What would she have done_ , the Octoling thought. “… The thing is, things have happened these past few weeks that coincide with your appearance and it all just seems fishy. So we’ve brought you here to hopefully demonstrate why we’re all uneasy about you.”

She felt Marina take hold of the bag over Lily’s head, and as she lifted it away, she opened her eyes. The outside world was incredibly bright, after she had adjusted to the darkness under the cloth. She had to squint to see anything. It would take her over the next minute to really see what was going on outside the cabin.

“There’s things going on here that I need you to keep to yourself,” Marina said to her, kneeling before her and looking into Lily's bruised face. “But I feel that I need to show you, since this is human-made and well… since your secret’s out… to us. But I need to know that I can trust you. Will you promise to be truthful to us?”

Lily thought briefly. But she knew she didn’t have much choice in the matter. She nodded silently.

“...Thank you.” She stood up, and made for the sliding door of the helicopter. “Prepare yourself.”

Marina took the handle and tugged on it, and the door slid open.

And Lily found herself staring at a face. A face belonging to a massive stone-like statue.

A face that was undeniably human.

Lily’s mouth hung open.

The statue’s head seemed very much to be reminiscent of the Statue of David, from what she could see from its nose upward. It was tilted wildly off to one side, like its base had been collapsed, and above its face was a platform. One of the eyes seemed to be missing, or rather, there was an eye socket in its place.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ...” Lily mouthed. She tried to stand up to get a better look, and instead tumbled to the ground, her feet still bound together. Marina winced, and pulled her up, guiding her closer to the door.

“Look familiar?” Marina prompted.

“Yes... but not in the way you’re looking for,” Lily nodded. “The Statue of David. It’s a historical art piece even in my time. Someone took heavy inspiration from it when building this... thing, clearly.”

“Well, Eight might be getting drunk in the bar,” said Pearl as she emerged from the back of the cabin. “Turns out it dulls the pain.”

She saw Lily, and then noticed her expression of awe. She came around to look out the doorway.

“Do you know anything else about it?” Marina prompted Lily, glancing over at Pearl briefly.

“Uhh... not really. Why?”

Marina pulled up her radio. “Bring us down a bit more.”

The pilot on the other end complied, and as the heli lowered its altitude closer to the water, the semi-submerged mouth of David started to become visible.

“What... The fuck...” Lily mouthed silently, lost in the noise of the heli.

David had been weaponised.

The mouth housed some sort of massive cannon of some kind. It was hard to tell, as it was busted beyond repair. Parts of it hung limply from the mouth, or floated in the water, splintering apart in several places.

Lily was confused. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

“Familiar now?” Marina prodded.

“…No, sorry. I was only ever a civilian.” Lily frowned. “I have played my fair share of video games though, and that looks ominous as fuck. Good work to whoever took that out.”

“Yo.” Pearl struck a pose.

“Damn, okay. Sorry I don’t know more. Is this what the whole Tartar thing is about? Is that it?”

Marina looked at her, concerned. “How do you know that name?”

“You said it while I was hiding up on that rooftop. Something along the lines of, you thought I was another one of them.”

“Ah… Yes…” Marina bit her lip as they all stared out of the door. “I didn’t think you had heard that discussion. Well uh… How to explain… Tartar is—“

“Tartar is a bitch is what he is!” Came a voice from the rear of the cabin as the door swung open.

“Oh no, he’s drunk already,” Marina sighed.

“I’m perfectly sober!” yelled Eight. The Octoling boy strode from the back room, Octo Shot in hand as he strode straight up to Lily. “Where do you get off, thinking you have the right to say who gets to live and who doesn’t?!” He gestured his gun hand wildly in Lily’s direction, and she stepped back nervously, only succeeding in tripping herself over and smacking her already battered head on the floor, causing her to curse loudly.

“We all got on just fine without your so-called precious knowledge, so you can take it to your grave!” Agent 8 pointed the Octo Shot threateningly at Lily.

Lily glanced slowly at Marina and Pearl as they all looked at her. “Fuck… Okay, let me break that down for a moment, because I have no idea what you mean.” She paused for a moment, staring down the barrel of Eight’s weapon. “Fuck, I guess being the only representative for humanity I get to be the one to answer for their crimes. Shit. Okay. I don’t even know what this ‘precious knowledge’ would be that you’re talking about. Society and technology seems to be getting on just fine without us...

“And what’s this ‘who lives and who dies’ crap? Is that something Tartar said? Is… that the kind of person he is? ...What does he get out of killing you? There are so many other…”

Something said earlier that day swam to the front of her mind. “Oh. Oh no.”

_‘They’re fuckin deadly, Sheldon. They tried to wipe out everyone.’_

_That cannon…_

“…Pearl…” Lily said slowly. “When you said ‘everyone’…”

“Everyone,” Pearl responded.

“Every _thing_ ,” Marina added.

“All for your precious ‘ultimate lifeform’,” Eight chimed in, still pointing his weapon, more definitively at the girl on the ground.

“Ultimate what?” Lily stared at him. _Tartar was doing some evil-ass shit here…_ “Fuck… No wonder you want me out of the picture then…”

_If that’s the threat we’ve brought upon these people, then… no fucking wonder. I guess I have to offer them the opportunity. I just wish Agent 4 knew what we’d done out here…_

“Then… if getting rid of me is how you have to ensure the safety of your world… then so be it.”

“Uh, What…?” Marina frowned. Where did this come from, all of a sudden?

“I’m not going to tell you that humans as a whole were great people,” Lily said grimly, as she laid there on the floor, staring up at them. “They had a capacity for greatness and kindness, just like you. But we hated each other for anything you could think of. The color of the skin, the people we loved, the cause we believed in, the clothes we wore, just… anything.”

“This is sounding familiar,” Marina realised. “He was going to wipe us out for that very problem.”

“He would have known. We fought, we killed. We destroyed entire cultures, species and civilizations just so we didn’t have to change our own ways. It was easier to make the rich richer than to save the lives of millions. We have no place in the world of today. We do deserve to be extinct.

“If you must end me, as the last representative of the human race, then I will understand. I will forgive you. That is all I have to say.”

“Good,” said Eight. He flicked off the safety on his Octo Shot.

“Eight. Hold your fire.” Marina rested a hand on his shoulder, and spoke softly. “I get it. I really do. But this isn’t the time. This doesn’t feel right.”

“Just two seconds and this’ll be over,” Eight shouted.

“I said, Hold your fire Eight,” Marina said firmly, stepping between him and Lily. “You got your revenge on Tartar already. This one might still be saveable.”

“You’re making a mistake!”

“Maybe. But she’s not an AI and she doesn’t have access to a giant laser or a testing facility. She has her friends and a few gadgets from her time, and… I have to admit she’s not actually caused any problems since we started seeing her in Inkopolis.”

“She’s weird, but she might be redeemable,” Pearl found herself agreeing. “Tartar never was.”

There was a moment of tense silence. Agent Eight continued to hold the Octo Shot over Lily, who just kept her eyes closed, accepting and awaiting her inevitable end.

“Eight…” Marina said, more quietly this time. “If nothing else, don’t stoop down to his level. Killing her for what she is would just make us as bad as them.”

More tense silence.

A few long seconds passed.

Eight’s weapon hand began to tremble.

“...ffffFUCK!” He finally yelled, and tossed his Octo Shot against the wall. “Only because I trust you two!”

He quickly walked off and back through the rear cabin door, presumably to go get drunk.

More silence followed as Marina and Pearl stared after him.

* * *

The heli manoeuvred into position above David’s open eye socket, Marina standing at the doorway, hanging tightly onto a railing just above the cabin door.

While the group was here, Marina had realised they should do one last, very important thing.

Confirm the destruction of Commander Tartar.

She would be bringing Lily along, to see the face of the AI that had nearly killed them all, and to hopefully provide some information if necessary.

To that end, she agreed to cut the squid loose from her bindings and give her weapon back – on the condition that Lily use it on anything alive they might find inside.

“The sun’s in a bad position,” Marina said over the noise, a microphone now attached to her trademark headphones. The proximity to the statue was amplifying the helicopter’s noise. “We might not be able to see too clearly in there.”

“There’s a torch on my iPhone,” Lily replied back as she strapped her gear on, outfitted with an earpiece of her own for this expedition. “One of you’s still got that, right?”

“Yeah,” she nodded at Pearl who, begrudgingly, procured the device from her pocket. Lily took it and, turning the screen on briefly, brought up the phone’s quick settings panel and flicked the switch to make sure it was still functional. It was.

Ready to go, she flicked the torch off again, put the phone in her own pocket and joined Marina at the door.

The statue being at an angle, there was not any clear area for the girls to land. They would have to jump across somehow, and even then make sure they didn’t slip and fall, forward into any hidden hazards or backward into the open sky… and sea.

“That’s about as close as we can get,” came a male voice over their earpieces. The pilot.

“Copy that,” Marina replied. “We’re ready to head in. Ready, Lily?”

“Uhh, sure I guess.”

“Well, on the count of three. One, two… three!”

They both leapt forward from the door of the helicopter into open space.

Lily’s brain locked up as she dropped through the air, the pair soaring toward their destination.

They hit the ground hard, landing just inside, on the wall of the space. Lily was unlucky and landed on something thin that gave under her feet and caused her to slip and fall over on the ‘ground’.

“I’m okay,” Lily said automatically, getting up and dusting herself off. She had to stand with one foot on the floor and one on the lowest wall just to stand ‘straight’. Looking at Marina, she pulled the phone out and shone a torch around.

This part of the eye was quite shallow. It felt quite alien, sitting at this weird 75 degree angle. This room almost seemed like it ought to be an observation area, except the walls were dotted with various pages. They were all in various states of damage, and all of them were soaked in pink ink. And though the same color as the rest of the walls here, and dotted with papers, there was a doorway in the back.

“Hey, shine that up here for a moment,” Marina said softly to Lily, gesturing up at the floor. The Inkling swept the phone’s torch slowly over the area, from the back of the room to the front.

The floor was unremarkable. Someone had paid nicely for a marbled floor, but that in itself wasn’t worth the attention.

But somewhere near the front of the room, a metal pole stuck out from the floor, affixed to the ground. Seemingly whatever it was supposed to be attached to was meant to be a permanent installation, but whatever activity had occurred here had had enough force to snap it off. Some cabling stuck out from the end of the pipe, though…

Slowly, Lily followed the cables with her light, stepping slowly into the room.

She didn’t get far before the cable ended, again torn in half. But they pointed towards the back corner, so she shone her light upon it.

Marina let out a soft gasp. “I’d get away from there… Watch your feet.”

In the back corner of the room was a greenish… mass. Lily wasn’t quite sure what it was supposed to be. It didn’t look like ink.

And resting against the back wall, in poor condition, was a telephone box.

If Lily had to guess without prior knowledge, it would have come from the 1940s or 50s in her time. Two bells sat on either side, which she imagined a hammer would have rung when a call came in. The speaker, which was an old-timey brass piece you would hold to your ear, sat underneath, like a mouth. She wondered if people at the time knew they were making something that looked slightly anthropomorphic.

It had been busted quite badly. Gaps in its panelling exposed its inner workings. Except, apart from the torn-apart cables she had seen, the green slime seemed to ooze from this very box.

“Eugh.” Lily thought this whole picture was slightly disgusting and more than a little creepy. She panned the light up towards the door just so she didn’t have to look at it for a moment. It was fairly nondescript, hidden behind more documents and papers. Though it might be difficult to get through at this angle, she was curious to see what was behind the door.

“Wait, get that light back on him for a moment.”

“Him?” Lily turned to look on her. “Don’t tell me that thing is Tartar?” She panned the light back towards the old phone box regardless.

“We busted another one not too long before this one, so… I think what we need to find is a mainframe or a server room of some kind. I would bet these boxes aren’t actually him.” Marina looked around, looking for a clue.

“What, like a…” Lily’s weapon hand bounced as she tried to think of the right words. “Like a… Like his data and stuff would actually be on the mainframe and not these?”

“Yes!” Marina nodded. “That doesn’t quite explain why these… ‘interfaces’, let’s say, hold this creepy genetic sludge, but I suppose that doesn’t really matter anymore. Just try not to get too close to that stuff. Three got some of it stuck on him and it ended up taking him over.”

“Noted. With him right by the door, I don’t think we’ll be able to get through there safely. Surely this can’t be the only way into this… thing.”

“It’s not, there’s an elevator up on the top that takes you between the surface and deeper into the main power generation areas for what lays beneath.” Marina thought briefly. “It’s a massive structure, from what I can tell, but not all of it is strictly to do with keeping Tartar online.”

She sighed. “It would take a lot longer than I had planned to get down there though, if even possible in this condition, and it would make sense for the ‘brain’ of this system to be in the head somewhere.”

“So what now? I mean, I’m guessing I can’t just…” Taking aim with the Splattershot, Lily fired a quick burst at the back wall, around the hazard. The ink would not stick, and splashed down onto the floor.

“Right, so that’s out…”

“I think we’ll have to come back another time,” Marina said, pulling gently on Lily’s shoulder. “When we have more time to find his mainframe. But there doesn’t appear to be power running through here, which is great.” The Octoling girl keyed her mic on the headset. “Alright, we’re coming back. Results inconclusive for the moment, but the place seems fairly quiet. We’ll just need another time to come back and do some serious exploring to find Tartar’s brain.”

“Well come up quick,” her pilot replied, audible on both hers and Lily’s headsets. “Pearl’s getting the rope ladder ready now. We’ve got a fast-moving vessel heading for us and they’re not responding to requests to turn back.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Hazardous area.”

“Right, we’ll get back on board and I’ll have a chat to them. Maybe they’ll listen to me.” Taking her finger off the transmit button for a moment, she gestured to Lily. “Come on, let’s get back on the helicopter and get back to the city.”

Pearl’s rope ladder unrolled into view. They’d have to do another jump, the helicopter not being able to get much closer to the statue. Lily sighed.

“You first,” Marina said to Lily. Despite the co-operation they had so far, she didn’t want to give the human a chance to escape or fire upon her, if she still felt so inclined.

Lily stepped up to the edge of the eye, staring out past the heli to the ocean. Lily didn’t like that she had to jump again. Thankfully the ladder reached down low enough that she had plenty of room to get a grip on the thing, and while it still swung around wildly, it was weighted with sandbags to keep it from whipping around and being inaccessible.

She couldn’t get much of a run-up, with the room they were in being at such an angle, but she pushed off the edge as she jumped and, breathing hard, managed to grab onto a rung of the ladder without getting her arms torn off or something. It swung forward with her momentum and, fearing she’d be thrown off, she clung tightly to the ladder as it swung from side to side, but with her weight, the ladder began to settle down. Letting out a sigh of relief, she started her ascent back onto solid ground.

Once she had gotten far enough up, she heard Marina also jump from the eye. The ladder swung forward again, and she clung tightly to the rope ladder again until it settled.

Lily noticed off in the corner of her vision, a speedboat of sorts was swinging around the statue towards them from a fair distance away, the sun reflecting off of it and obscuring its passengers. They’d clearly come from the city. But who were they? Why were they interested in this place?

Lily and Marina eventually climbed into the cabin of the helicopter without too many issues, and as Lily removed her gear, under observation from an unamused and inebriated Eight, Marina headed into the cockpit to commandeer the radio while Pearl pulled up the rope ladder.

Lily sat back down on the cabin bench, unsure of the situation with the boat. The three of them waited to hear more for a minute or two, Eight pacing nervously with his Octo Shot, staring intently at Lily.

Then something tugged on the rope ladder and Pearl nearly slipped. “Eight, gimme a hand here!”

Eight rushed over to help Pearl bring up the ladder, and noticed as he leaned out to see what was going on, that another squid was climbing up it. One that he’d certainly not seen before. “We’ve got company!” He yelled, firing down at their assailant.

Then Marina stepped out from the cockpit. Lily noticed she was looking fearful. She walked over and pulled Pearl and Eight back from the ledge. “Guys, stop. We’ve got a problem.”

“Yeah, we do!” Pearl shouted. “We’re under attack!”

“It’s… It’s the Squidbeak Splatoon. They’re here. For us.”

“Eh? Eight’s a Squidbeak, isn’t he?”

“Yes, but… remember, Craig’s been down in the underground with Eight. He wouldn’t have been able to get a signal out strong enough to contact them.” Marina took a deep breath. “Agents One and Two… are vouching for the human’s integrity. They’re sending another Agent on board. They want her ‘back’.”

“They DO know she’s human, right?”

“We sure do!”

And one of their assailants’ heads popped up from the rope ladder.

It was Agent 4. In full Hero gear.

* * *

The sun had dipped below the horizon as the helicopter obediently followed the Squid Sisters further out to sea. They were headed towards the massive circle of rocks that marked the border of the Octo Valley.

Agents 4 and 5 sat near the rear of the vehicle, Four tutting and obsessing over Lily’s various head injuries while keeping a close eye on the rest of the crew. Marina had gone into the cockpit to talk privately with the pilot, and be away from the Agents. Pearl and Agent Eight sat on the other end, Pearl looking away and actually looking somewhat guilty for once, while Eight scowled in Lily’s direction.

Clearly, their newly-discovered alliance was not going to wipe away the bad blood already established between them. Though he clearly recognised the headgear Four was wearing and had stood down...

“Agent 4, report in,” came Marie’s voice through Lorne’s radio. “Everyone behaving? How’s Five?”

“Things have settled down in here for now,” Four replied as she pulled up her two-way radio. “Lily’s beat up pretty bad, but she’s conscious and fairly lucid. Should be an uneventful flight. There’s one boy in here you’ll definitely want to speak to though, from what she’s told me.”

“If you say so. One’s going to have the pilot drop you guys off, then we’ll get everyone together and work out what exactly is going on. Two out.”

“Four out. See you soon.” Agent 4 replaced the radio on her belt. She turned to Lily, who was still staring at her in wonder. “What?”

“I’m just amazed you managed to find me all the way out here. How DID you even find me, anyway?”

Agent 4 smirked. “Blame Sheldon for that.”

It had been the horseshoe crab that raised the alarm. He had felt guilty after exposing Lily’s identity, and in the ensuing mess, had felt terrible and wanted to make things right by her.

Lorne had informed him and the Squid Sisters of Lily’s plan to take the sewer system to Octo Valley, and he’d worked out enough from Pearl and Marina’s behaviour at the hotel to realise that they were waiting for her, when they began hanging out at the grate outside his shop, and then dropped in, one after the other.

Though the girls had arrived too late to keep her from being captured, they all kept their ears open for any information that would lead her to Off the Hook… and Lily. Things were quiet for a while, but then…

For possibly the first time on Earth, it had been paparazzi that had given the Sisters the info they needed. Off the Hook’s personal chopper had just taken off from West Inkopolis, nearby the Hime Mansion, headed for a rock formation in the bay near the off-limits Octo Valley.

Neither of the four were aware of any rock formations in the bay, but they knew that Lily would have to be on board. While they didn’t know what exactly Pearl and Marina planned to do with the human, after what had happened at the hotel, the fact that they were taking her out to a rock in the middle of nowhere… didn’t inspire much confidence that she would be coming back with them.

And so, Callie, Marie and Lorne had decided to head out there, in the Squid Sisters’ own personal speedboat - they had acquired it for a music video shoot some time ago, and not had much reason to use it, so it had been moored in a private dock nearby Port Mackerel – and rescue Lily before it was too late.

Having all three of them wear the Agent armor was Marie’s idea – the Sisters having access to Captain Cuttlefish’s files, and having studied them, she knew that Marina would, or should, understand the significance of the armor. Having Agent 4 carry her weapons out to the rock was also decided carefully.

Marie carrying her Charger though, after fitting a scope onto it, was a spur of the moment decision. Due to the rushed planning, she didn’t have time to go buy a pair of binoculars, and so decided the scope she already had would do.

As Callie communicated to the chopper and tried to make clear they would NOT be turning away, Marie, scoped in, had seen the rope ladder unfurl and two figures leap from the statue. She’d seen their chance and told Callie to gun it for the ladder. When they were just above to go underneath the helicopter, Four had leapt up… and engaged her special.

The Inkjet.

Though not so effective above the surface of the water, she kept her momentum above the boat to keep in the air, though a bother for the Sisters as the jets splashed ink everywhere, and had employed its boost to grab onto the ladder and begin climbing, fast.

By the time Lorne had climbed into the helicopter, though, Marina had spoken directly to Callie and Marie of the Squid Sisters, her idols, and realised there was more to all this than just the threat of humans and Tartar.

She had ordered Pearl and Eight to stand down, briefly explained what was happening, and allowed Four to check on and look after the human.

Which caught Lily up to the present. She was slightly wide-eyed, and she embraced her friend tightly.

She was glad to be among friends again.

* * *

The helicopter slowly descended upon Tentakeel Hideout.

There was no space for it to touch down, so it had maneuvered to an area jutting off from the main platform, only holding a grate (a pathway to one of the Octarian underground caverns, Lorne had explained) and allowed everyone to disembark.

Marina’s shoes hit the ground first, and she looked around herself, taking careful steps along the path to the main platform. Pearl and Eight were just behind her. Agent 4 was waiting for them on the other side, weapons away. Agent Five had already gone ahead to the Cabin where they were all to meet.

“This way, please.” Four turned away to lead them up the Hideout. Walking rather than swimming.

“Wow, this place has changed a bunch since I was last here,” Marina said, mostly to herself. The platforms around the Octo Valley were gently lit up, and moreso here at the Hideout.

“I don’t think I’ve… ever been here,” Eight said quietly, nervously holding the Octo Shot by his side. “I grew up elsewhere.”

“Well, this area’s all new to me too,” Pearl said, walking next to her band partner once they had gotten onto solid ground and looking around in semi-awe. “But check out all this floating stuff. Isn’t your workshop around here somewhere?”

“Yeah… Shifty Station’s around,” Marina said. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m just… I can start to see where you get the tech to build that kinda stuff.”

Marina sighed. “The Valley’s not that obvious of an inspiration, is it?”

“Only now that I know,” Pearl nodded. Then she nudged Marina’s side. “It’s pretty rad, though. Like I tell you every time, that you build and work with all the things you do is pretty amazing.”

“Heh… thanks.” Marina smiled.

Their helicopter buzzed by overhead as it took off. Marina had directed the pilot to head back home, since she had been told there would be a way back to Inkopolis from here. She went quiet as they followed Four up through the rock archway.

Marie and Callie were waiting for them by the Cabin, still dressed in their Agent gear, and Marie leaning lightly on her Charger. Lily was sitting on the cabin bench, nursing a cold-pack to the back of her bruised head. Four walked over to go join her.

“Welcome, everyone,” Callie, Agent 1, said. “Thank you for your co-operation. I don’t believe we need to introduce ourselves...”

“Wait wait wait,” Pearl butted in. “ _You two_ are part of the Squidbeaks? I mean, I know Cuttlefish is your grandpa and all, but--”

“Is that a problem?” Marie, Agent 2, cut her off. “We’re involved in a bit more than just our music careers around here. Seems the same could be said for the two of you.”

“At least we’re doing something meaningful with our time, like rescuing rad dudes and savin’ the fuckin’ world. Why do you have such an interest in that human?”

“You’re equating saving the world to taking her out to the middle of the ocean and killing her in cold ink? Are you kidding me right now? You’re more of a menace than the quality of your rhymes would have me believe.”

“ _Excuse me?_ We weren’t gonna--”

“Pearl.” Marina cut in, tapping her shoulder. She stared up into the eyes of her idols. Both sets of eyes were on her. One disappointed. One flashing with anger. This was not how she wanted to finally meet the Squid Sisters face-to-face... Her eyes darted away, shameful. “We... That was never our intent. Our friend here _did_ have a desire to, but... The three of us...” She nodded lightly in both Pearl’s and Eight’s direction. “We had some experience with human _things_ recently. When we found out that that girl _was_ human, we thought... she was going to bring about the end of the world.”

“The _end of the world_? Really? That’s your excuse? _That’s_ what you’re going with?” Marie was unimpressed.

“Hear me out...” Marina held her hands up, almost seeming to shrink back before Marie’s glare. “There is... was... something inside that was obsessed with the ‘ultimate lifeform’, and after we stopped it trying to blend up Agent 8 and Captain Cuttlefish, it tried to charge up this--”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hang on. Trying to _what_ my grandpa?!” Callie was stunned.

“And what’s this about an Agent 8? We don’t have an Agent 8...” Marie looked somewhat confused.

“You do now,” Pearl said matter-of-factly.

Callie sighed. “Alright, take it from the top, girls. What _happened_ out there?”

With Pearl’s and Eight’s help, Marina told the Agents all about the encounter with the Captain and Eight, Commander Tartar and the Thangs, the Kamabo Corporation, NILS, Agent 3, and the battle at the statue. Callie, Marie, and Agents 4 and 5 listened obediently, cycling through many emotions as they told their story.

“After that all happened,” Pearl continued, bringing the story around to the present, “once we saw the weird newbie girl again,” she gestured at Lily, “we realised that with her sudden appearance, plus the phone, stuff falling from the sky, the car... things just seemed to add up, but we didn’t know for sure until Sheldon confirmed it for us.”

Lily growled at the mention of Sheldon’s name, and Agent 4 elbowed her in the side, speaking to her quietly.

“So we brought her to the statue to see what the connection was... and got nowhere.” Marina hung her head in shame. “We were going to make sure that Tartar was totally destroyed too, so we didn’t have to worry about it ever again, but we just didn’t plan the time required for it. My plan was to go back there with the human at a later date to do a thorough search and make sure he wouldn’t threaten us again. And uh... yeah, that’s about when you guys showed up.”

“...I see.” Marie turned briefly to Agent 5. “And you didn’t know anything about this Tartar creature?”

“Not until today, after it went down at the hotel. I haven’t been carrying any secret evil plans or anything. Unless he really did have something to do with me getting brought here, I’d have no way of knowing if it’s true or not.”

“Well that’s settled then.” Marie turned back to Off The Hook and their Octo friend. “Well you won’t have to worry about dealing with that anymore, we’ll get on the case.”

“ _Excuse me?!_ ” Pearl snapped. “I think the three of us have more than proven ourselves out there! If anything you should be _helping_ us!”

“There’s too much at stake if he’s still online in there! It’s too dangerous for you to continue being involved.”

“Dangerous? Tell that to Three and Eight!”

“They HAVE faced the worst of it and come through fine in the end...” Marina agreed. “And you _would_ need our help anyway, we’ve mapped out most of that area...”

“And if it comes down to it again, you’re gonna need all the firepower you can get,” Pearl said.

“Not that he could do too much to threaten the world again,” Marina added hopefully. “With his cannon dead in the water.”

“...They do have a point,” Callie said to her cousin. “Even if we don’t take them on as Agents, they _would_ be valuable assets.”

Marie sighed. She knew she wasn’t going to win this. “We’ll give it some thought.”

Callie flashed their guests a thumbs up.

“Wait... really?” Marina was a little stunned. “Working alongside the Squid Si-- I mean uh, the Squidbeaks? That would be like a dream come true!”

“Mmm. Any other questions before we get you three back to the city?”

“I still gotta know. What _is_ the human’s deal?” Pearl had some questions of her own. “You've not actually said anything about them. Like, how did they actually _get_ here? I think we deserve to know!”

“Ah... yeah... Honestly, I’d really like to know that as well, if you’ll tell us.”

“Well...” Marie turned back to Agent 5. “What do you think?”

“Could it wait? Why don't we talk over breakfast in the Square tomorrow?

“Uh... sure,” Marina nodded. “Are you ok with 7am? We usually start working at 8, and that gives us time to chat and eat.”

“Sounds good!”

“In the same vein, we’ll be getting a message out to you once we’ve evaluated the information you’ve given, to organise an expedition to the statue.” Marie turned, indicating the meeting was over. “That will be all for now. Agent 1 will guide you two back to the Square. Agent 8, I want you to stick around, I need to work a few things out about you.”

Marina and Pearl stretched, and followed Callie over to the grate, the three of them slipping inside.

Marie made her way over to the bench where Four and Five sat, while Agent 8 followed, albeit nervously.

“You doing okay, kid?” Marie asked Five, taking a seat next to her.

“With this cold pack, yeah,” came Lily's reply. She was leaning softly on Lorne in the dim light from the cabin.

“Glad to hear it. Are… you sure you want to keep doing this? You've been through a lot…” “I'm sure. If anything, after hearing what's been going on, I want to help more.” She looked up at Eight, who was still not amused at her presence. “Ah… Sorry for getting you in the balls earlier today. You doing okay?”

“I’ll get you one day for that, human.”

“I’ll have deserved it, clearly. Agent, huh…?”

“Yes, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Eight.” Marie gestured at a space on the bench next to her. “Take a seat. You said Cuttlefish gave you that title?”

“Yes ma’am. We were assisting each other for some time before then.”

“Okay, and… how did you come to meet him?”

“He found and woke me in the Metro, to, erm… continue my fight with Agent 3 from the Valley.”

“That… battle was quite a while ago.” Marie’s eyes widened slightly. She had been aware of Agent 3 ‘cleaning up’ enemy forces, as it were, after the first defeat of DJ Octavio two years prior... “Eight… you were part of Octavio’s strike team, weren’t you?”

“TRAITOR!” bellowed a deep, gurgly voice from their left, startling everyone but Marie.

Eight’s face went deathly pale. _He knew that voice._

“Shut it and go back to sleep!” Marie snapped in the voice’s direction.

“Who’s that?” Lily wondered, realising she seemed to be the only person who hadn’t been aware of their ‘guest’.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re still staying with us tonight, right?”

“Huh? Oh, right! Sorry, I’d forgotten all about that what with things at the statue. Yeah, if you’ll still have me…”

“Of course. At least now it’ll be more of a sleepover and less of an escape from the city. You’ve got a place to stay, right Eight?”

Eight’s head snapped back from staring off into the darkness, where the voice had come from. “Yeah, in the city. Uh… you’re not… upset about my background, are you?”

“No. Cuttlefish teaming up with you is… different for him. But society is changing. The Octolings are not so much the threat that we thought they were anymore, more… the octopus behind them.”

“I STILL HEAR YOU!”

“Good. For the record, while he’s here, Eight, there’s no way he can touch or harm you.”

“...How can you promise that?” Lily was starting to see some actual nervousness in Eight’s expression.

Marie got up from her seat, and made her way into the darkness, toward the direction of the voice. She flicked a switch on the side of the cabin, which turned on another street lamp to illuminate the area. Lily saw...a cloth. It was draped over something rounded... “Because myself, Agent 1 and Agent 4 here locked him in this in the first place.”

She grabbed hold of the cloth, and pulled it away.

It was a snowglobe. At least, to Lily it was a snowglobe.

And suspended inside was… some sort of creature wearing a ceremonial helmet.

Eight audibly gasped, and stepped back, shock and fear painted on his face. Lily was confused as to what she was looking at…

The other two girls weren’t particularly fussed. They’d put him there, after all. “Anyway, yeah, he can’t harm you from in there. And it’s actually quite fun to blast his cage with your weapon. So if you ever feel inclined to disrespect your old boss…”

The creature’s eyes snapped from Marie to Eight. They seemed to bulge from its face at times. “Soldier! I’ll consider forgiving your desertion if you mash up these fools right now!”

Lily snorted. Eight glanced over at Marie, a slight frown on his face. “So he hasn’t changed at all, then.”

“Noope. Oh, this should be obvious, but I don’t support that action.”

“I don’t follow you anymore,” Eight said, turning his back to the snowglobe. “You got what you deserve. You and I are done.”

He started to walk away, toward the grate to Inkopolis.

“Uh, hey Eight, you need help getting back to the Square? The path is kinda hidden...”

“Oh… then sure, I guess.”

“Let’s go then.” Marie stood up from the bench. “Five, make yourself comfortable. There’s a spare sleeping bag inside. Callie and I will be back soon. Four, make sure Lily’s settled in and then it’s up to you whether you want to sleep over as well or head home. Thanks for your help today.”

“No worries, Marie. See you ‘round.” Lorne saluted Marie, and Agent 8 waited for her by the grate, both of them shortly disappearing from view as they began the swim back to the city.

The platform was silent for a minute as the two Agents left alone on the platform stared out into the stars.

“I’m still here, you know,” said the octopus creature from his globe.

“We know,” both girls replied, without looking.

“You gonna be right sleeping here, with this nerd around?” Four asked Five.

“I’ll be fine. I appreciate your concern... “ Lily blushed. “I’m honestly really glad that I have a moment alone with you, after everything today.”

“Me too, Lily…” The two girls turned to face each other on the bench, and they embraced tightly, Lily beginning to tear up. “I was honestly worried I wasn’t going to see you again. We all were.”

“I… thought I was dead for sure. That boy, Agent 8… he was with Marina and Pearl since I left the hotel. He really wanted to put me down for being human. Hell, he nearly _did_ on the heli. To be fair, I don’t blame him...”

“He nearly did WHAT?!” Lorne yelled.

“Whoa, it’s okay. Well, it’s not, but… I think he still thought I was on Tartar’s side. And, y’know, I totally understand now why he thinks, or thought humans were terrible. Remember what Pearl had said about humans at the hotel?”

“Yeah…?”

“She was _right_. Only, it wasn’t all humans, and Tartar isn’t even a human himself, apparently. But we created him. We had to have decided that the way to encourage the future rulers of the world was to basically nuke the whole thing and let life try again. So… I totally get where he is coming from.”

“SEE? I was right, Inkling!” The octopus bellowed. “Humans are the true evil, and yet you side with them!”

“Shut it, Octavio!” Lorne snapped back.

Lily silently got up from the bench and walked around the cabin, out of view.

“Uh-? Lily?”

There was a ‘click’. The street light illuminating Octavio’s globe went out, and he was plunged into darkness. “HEY!”

Lily came back into view, and she eyed the octopus sternly. “We’ll talk tomorrow.” Then she walked back over to Lorne. “Let’s get this sleeping bag setup already. Away from him, preferably.”

“You think there’s room in the cabin?”

“Can’t hurt to try, I guess.”

The two girls opened the door and stepped inside, leaving DJ Octavio alone on the platform.


	4. Kids With Guns / Reconciliation (Post-"Something About Us" Alternate)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter consists of three scenes that were all written separately, but generally follow the same thread.
> 
> The story after the break that was Something About Us was going to go in a different direction initially with the same general conclusion - Lily and the Squidbeaks from the surface would discover Eight's affiliation and what OtH knows, but this time Lily would be tasked with resolving the issue in Marina's Chatroom.
> 
> I had lots of trouble coming up with the want to write the Turf War battle that would ultimately lead to Lily versus Eight, so it was scrapped.
> 
> Squidbeak Meeting would follow on from Kids with Guns, but Reconciliation, while following on from that, was written out of place for where the fic was at. It was just a chatroom scene that I wanted to write and hoped to incorporate at some point!

**Kids With Guns**

As they waited around in the Deca Tower lobby for Marie and Callie to turn up and join them for a team game, Lily noticed another team entering from the Square.

Specifically, she noticed one boy in the back of the group of four. A boy with deep blue hair, a gentle expression, and.. A Splat Roller.

She recognised that combo.

Lily stepped away from Agent 4 for a moment and crossed the lobby. Roller hadn’t noticed her yet, as he and his group were signing up to battle for the day.

She took a deep breath, and stepped up toward Roller. “Hey, can we talk privately for a moment?”

Roller turned at the sound of her voice, and saw her. The color on his face drained.

He grabbed at one of his friends and got behind him. Confused, the boy, with neater hair and a Blaster-type weapon, turned to face Lily. “You harassin’ my friend here, lady?”

Lily put her hands up, palms out at shoulder level. “No! No way. I battled with him a couple days ago and I just wanted to speak to him about something.”

“That’s the human!” Roller said in a panicky tone to his friend. “She’s dangerous! No way I’m talking to you away from everyone!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” his friend replied. “I told you already man, humans went extinct thousands of years ago.”

“But Off the Hook said—”

“Off the Hook says a lot of things on the news in the name of getting a laugh. You been fooled.” The Blaster boy turned to Lily. “Hey, sorry about him. He’s been acting all weird lately.”

“It’s cool. You mind if I borrow him for a second to work to talk about it?”

“Go for it.” He turned and grabbed Roller, pushing him in front.

“No! Wait! Blast! Please!” Roller began to panic as he was pushed closer to Lily.

Lily took his hand and forcibly dragged him over to the couch where Lorne was. Lily noticed Callie observing from a short distance, behind the couch and obscured by a rubber plant. She was in the same casual outfit as before, and her Roller was folded up next to her.

“There you are, Lily!” Lorne said with a grumble as they arrived. “Who’s this you— Oh. Roller.”

“Lorne.” Roller was not very amused to see her here as well.

“Have a seat,” Lily said to him, gesturing at the couch.

“No way,” Roller responded coldly.

Lily sighed. “Roller, we’re in the middle of the Deca Tower lobby and we're surrounded by people. There’s no way I’d try anything. Seriously. I just want to talk for a minute.”

The boy looked around, but couldn’t refute her point, and so slowly, carefully he took a seat on the couch. “Why are you doing this?” he asked in a slightly worried tone.

“Doing... what?” Lily cocked her head, glancing once again at Callie behind the plant. Her head was slightly turned in their direction. Ah good, she was paying attention.

“Des... destroying the world.”

Lily looked over at Lorne with a confused look. “Mate, that’s the first time I’ve heard that,” she said. _Well, technically, they think I’m going to ‘just’ kill everyone... but this kid’s definitely confused._ “Look, lemme be honest with you. I didn’t actually come here of my own will. But since I am here, I’m just living. I wouldn’t destroy a world I couldn’t escape from,” she shrugged.

“It does sound like Pearl and Marina saw something as old as humans,” Lorne told him, “but there aren’t any actual humans alive.”

“Except Lily, right?” Roller eyed her carefully.

Lily met his gaze and held it for several seconds, then glanced down. “Except for me, yes. But as… Sheldon… said the other day, I’m very much not human anymore.”

“See?! I’m not lying!” Roller turned around, expecting his friend to be there, but he wasn’t. “Oh, Blast didn’t follow us.”

“We’d appreciate it if you kept this all quiet for now. For all intents and purposes, I’m just a regular ol’ Inkling. Who maaaay have been a human in a previous life.”

“And you’re not going to destroy Inkopolis, right?”

“Nope.”

“…Right…” Lily got the impression he still didn’t really believe her. But then, he seemed to get an idea, and got off the couch, pointing his folded Roller at her. “Then... Battle me, Lily! And we’ll see which species is truly better!”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Uh… I don’t really wanna fight over something like that…”

“Aw, come on Lily,” Lorne nudged her shoulder. “It’ll be fun. But let’s wait for our team to arrive first.”

“Did someone call for a battle?” Callie said on cue, dramatically revealing herself from behind the plant.

“I just love a battle with stakes,” Marie’s voice said into Roller’s and Lily’s ears from behind the couch, causing them to yelp and fall off the couch.

“Jesus Christ, Marie!” Lily yelled as she clutched at her hearts. “You scared the living daylights out of me!”

“Couldn’t help myself,” she said with a grin. She was wearing something more casual this time - a cap and a facemask obscured her most defining features, and she wore a green jacket over a plain black tee. Most people wouldn’t be able to recognise her, but, Lorne and Lily knowing them well by now…

Roller stared up at them as Callie came over to sit on the opposite couch. “Y-you’re both in on this too?!”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” Callie said with a giggle and her tongue firmly against her cheek.

“Well, looks like we’ve got our team,” Marie said with a smirk to Roller. “If you’re really up for this, where’s yours?”

“Uh—!” Roller blinked a few times, then got to his feet. “H-hang on!” He turned and started to jog across the lobby towards where his friends last were. “Blast! Where are ya, buddy?” The girls heard him call.

Lily and Callie watched him for a moment, then turned back to the group. “So that was the boy you played with the other day?”

“That’s him,” Lily nodded. “He’s pretty alright… Besides him now thinking I’m a danger.” She gave a soft sigh. “A shame too, I thought we were gonna be friends.”

“Well I’m pretty sure he got scared off,” Lorne pointed out. “I’m… not entirely sure the point you two were trying to make.”

“I was sorta hoping that us being behind Lily would convince him.” Callie shrugged, leaning against her Splat Roller. “Or at least get him to reconsider.”

“Mmm.” Marie gave a little sigh. “Anyway, shall we get registered? How’s your battle level coming along, Lily?”

“Level 3, yeah boi.” Lily fistpumped as they stood up, and began to make their way to the registration desk. “You said 4 was the first big milestone, right?”

“That’s when you’ll be allowed to shop for battle clothing and start being able to buy new weapons, yeah.” Lorne smiled at her.

“Well actually, you could technically go get two new weapons right now,” Callie noted to Lily. “But yeah, the fun begins when you hit 4.”

“Don’t hit Four, by the way,” Marie said tongue-in-cheek.

Lily mock-gasped. “I would never!”

“Her game’s been improving as well,” Lorne continued to the Sisters. “Starting to remember to check behind her and stuff. Using bombs better.”

“The point is, y’all are going DOWN!” called a familiar female voice at them.

The group turned around.

Roller had come back, but not with the team Lily saw earlier.

Instead, he was joined by Pearl, Marina, and the Octoling boy.

Lily’s face went white.

“…NOPE!” She leapt back and behind Lorne, peeking out from behind her friend’s shoulder. “I’m not doing this again!”

Lorne, Callie and Marie all stood up, positioning themselves as a wall, facing the new group. “Haven’t you done enough to the poor girl?” Marie muttered.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about!” said Pearl with a smirk.

“Yeah, this time it’s just a friendly battle,” smiled Marina. “And when we saw the Squid Sisters on her team, well, we just couldn’t resist~!”

“So, what, you’re gonna battle us so this kid can feel better about himself?” Marie furrowed her brow.

“Oh, no,” Marina said with a wave of her hand. “ _We’re_ battling you for the fun of it. _They_ ,” she gestured at the Octo boy and Roller, who were introducing themselves, “have business with Lily.”

Pearl held up her battle card. “Let’s go find ourselves somewhere to settle this, eh?”

* * *

After a few more minutes of banter and recovery to let the ink on the arena evaporate away, Lily and the Octoling boy took their positions on either side of the field. Lorne and the Squid Sisters stood just behind the respawn point on Lily’s side, while Roller stood alone on the Octo’s. Pearl and Marina had taken a spot to the center.

“Alright everyone!” Marina had commandeered a PA, apparently. Her voice boomed over the empty arena. “With the referee’s OK, we’re doing something a little different for this one-on-one match! This time around, the first player to splat their opponent three times shall be victorious!”

“Oh, that’s a neat twist, I’ll give them that,” Lorne said to Callie and Marie. “So they’re motivated to find each other, and not just ink turf on opposite ends of the arena.”

“And just to make it that more interesting,” Pearl continued over the PA, “the lighting of the arena will be modified to give our contestants a new challenge. Today, all eyes are on them!”

“And so, let’s meet our players! In this corner!” Lily noticed Marina played the role of announcer too easily. Must be all that public speaking. “The pride of the Squid Sisters, the last of her kind! Ladies and gentlesquids… Lily the Human!”

Lily rolled her eyes. “I guess I didn’t give them much to work with.”

“And in the red corner!” So had Pearl. Maybe they were sharing? “The wonder from down under, master of the Metro! His kindness has warmed even the hearts of Captain Cuttlefish himself!”

Callie and Marie glanced at each other. “Wait a sec…”

“Everybody give it up for… Agent Eight!”

Lily froze. Had she heard that right? She slowly pivoted in place to Lorne and the Sisters, similarly shocked. “I… misheard that, right…?”

“She definitely said Captain Cuttlefish,” Marie said, frowning. “They know something.”

“Should we… go talk with them?” Callie asked, nervous.

“Let’s… figure this out. Lily,” Marie suddenly called out to her. “Do whatever you have to do and knock that Octoling down a peg. We’ll work out what the deal is from here. Good luck!”

“Yeah, we’re rooting for you, Lily!” Callie grinned and struck a pose. “Show ‘em who’s boss!”

The referee came in through Lily’s earpiece. “Alright, are you ready for this battle to commence?”

“Yes ma’am,” Lily affirmed and stepped up to the respawn point, readying the Splattershot Jr.

“Both players are ready to begin. As always, you may begin at the sound of the starter pistol. This time, the game will only end when one team has earned three splats. On your marks…”

Lily readied herself and waited. Far in the distance, she saw ‘Eight’ do the same on the other side.

Then with a large mechanical ‘click’, half the lights went out. The rest dimmed. Lily spun around to see what was going on.

Only the arena remained lit, and even then, only barely. Somebody had plunged the battleground into semi-darkness. “Hello?” she called out. “Was that meant to happen?”

The sound of the referee’s starter pistol cracked through the darkness in response. The game was on. Right away she started to move forward, inking the way forward… but then she stopped. _Wait_ , she realised. _Time to think a little. He’ll know where I am if I ink about the place._

She grinned devilishly at the idea that was forming in her head. _Let’s use this darkness to our advantage and get stealthy._

And so, she stopped inking completely, and started forward on her feet carefully, quietly, keeping her eyes open, watching for any signs of the Octoling. She moved up the rightmost path, descending down onto the central field.

With the low lighting, she crashed into the chain-link fence separating her side from the center, and stepped back, listening.

From somewhere in the distance, the taunting calls of “Heeearing youuuuu…” echoed over to her. The sounds of his Octoshot peppering the ground echoed across the stadium, getting louder. She became aware that there was no other sounds in the stadium. _Is everyone else just letting this happen…?_

Lily thought briefly, then noticed a large plastic block against a wall. Normally it would help gain access to the upper levels. This time, Lily saw it as a hiding spot, the corner behind the block obscured by darkness. She quietly got behind it, making sure she was hidden, and readied her Splattershot.

The sound of footsteps and weapon fire got closer. She listened carefully. Heard the rustle of the fence. Footsteps closer.

Then he appeared from behind the block, walking along the lane up to her spawn. “Where is you…” he muttered under his breath, his face looking slightly confused.

Lily lined up the shot, and let loose.

The first two shots landed, but that was enough for him to realise and whip around to face her, dive-rolling to the side. “YOU!” He bellowed, getting off a few shots of his own, landing a few shots on Lily and flushing her out from her corner.

“Hey!” She called out as she ran around and jumped up onto the block from the other side, then quickly leaping from it onto her side’s central position. “Same team! Same team!”

Another burst of Octoshot fire in her direction. _Holy shit, his aim is good. Way too good._ As she ran away to regroup, she armed a Splat Bomb from her holster and flung it behind her, hoping it would buy her time.

She noticed a lone light outside of the dimly-lit battleground. There were a couple of figures standing inside some room only lit by a console, above the stands. Judging by the shapes of the hair, Marina was at least in there. There seemed to be a few people in there. She guessed the rest of her team was having a rather heated chat with her and Pearl, judging by things.

She’d only been distracted for a few seconds, but it was enough for Eight to catch back up to her. This time he’d gotten the drop on her, and unloaded a few shots into her back.

Lily burst. Eight was up by one point.

Eight started to head in the direction of Lily’s spawn.

Lily kept up her act of not inking any turf and hiding, both in inkling and squid form where necessary, and once she got past him the cycle began again. Once she was able to get real close to him from behind as he observed the field from a vantage point and score a splat of her own, but as the battle went on, it got harder and harder to get a new splat in, as both players learned from their errors.

* * *

As the whistle blasted, cutting through the darkness, the lights started to fade back up to its normal brightness, and the rest of the lights flickered back on!

“And that’s it! Weapons down!” Marina’s voice blared over the PAs once again. “After a wonderfully tense match, Eight takes it 3-1! Well played, everyone!”

“To the victor go the spoils!” Pearl called out through the speakers.

Lily sighed and sat down near the center. _Well, at least I put up a good fight… Sorry, girls._

Eight stepped toward her. “Seeming humans is not strong after all. Clever,” he conceded, “but not strong.”

“No, I guess not,” Lily said with a sigh, and she got up again. “Well done, Eight. You sure showed me. At least I made you work for it.” She extended her hand to him.

“…What you are doing?” The Octoling stared at Lily’s awaiting hand, a confused look on his face.

“Eh? It’s… a handshake. I take your hand and…” she reached for Eight’s right hand, gripped it in hers, and executed the handshake firmly. “It’s a friendly gesture, a sign of sportsmanship in my culture. I’m sorry.”

“I am seeing…” He still looked confused, but he shook her hand, then let go.

“OI!” Pearl called from the caster’s booth behind the stands, where Lily had seen the others earlier. “Get up here, Eight! We need to go!”

Eight nodded, then turned to Lily, resting his hands on her shoulders briefly, and his expression turning more serious for just a moment. “I claim my reward soon,” he said simply.

He turned to walk off, but Lily grabbed his wrist. “Hang on,” she said. “Just one thing. Are you really an Agent?”

Eight looked at her in silence for a few moments. Then, he gave her a very slight nod, tugged his hand from her grip, and ran off to join the Off the Hook as they departed.

Lily stared after him as they left. _What does he have in mind…?_

Roller walked up to her, and the Squidbeaks team weren’t too far behind. “What a weird squid,” he said, as they watched Eight leave. “I’ve a feeling this was more than just a friendly game to him…”

“Mmm.” Lily turned her head to him. “Wasn’t it the same for you, man?”

“Sure, but I wasn’t taking it as seriously as he was. I dunno what you did to him, but…”

“I wish I knew.” Lily sighed and lowered her head. “Those three have been so cryptic lately. They don’t seem to be as freaked out about me anymore though… though that boy really doesn’t seem to like me anyway. And what about you…?”

Roller looked away, his eyes catching the Squid Sisters and Lorne coming up to them. “You… seem OK,” he conceded. “I don’t know what happened to those three, but… you seem fine.” He allowed himself a smirk. “For a human.”

“Ha!” Lily snorted. “I dunno what happened to them either, but I’m glad that we’re good, at least.”

“Yeah, for now.” He extended his fist, and Lily fistbumped.

“I’m glad at least something good came from this,” Callie smiled as the girls joined them. “Y’alright, Lily?”

“Yeahhh. Sorry I lost that battle, girls.”

“It’s cool, Lily. You fought well.”

“We’ve been asked to leave the arena,” the referee announced, joining the group. “Are you all finished, or will you be continuing to another arena?”

“I think we’re done,” Roller said. “I guess we’ll head back to the lobby?”

“Sounds good, but I think we’re done anyway,” Marie decided for the girls.

“Alright, well, please present your cards to be signed out.”

Each player presented their battle cards, and the referee swiped each one on a reader. “Ah, which one of you is Lily?”

Lily raised her hand.

“I’m pleased to announce that 4v4 battle pushed you up to Level 4. You’re now able to start buying new weapons and clothes.”

“Yes!” Lily fistpumped excitedly. “Thanks ma’am.” She took her card back.

“Well, why don’t we go celebrate?” Lorne said, hugging Lily. “Let’s get your first new weapon and enjoy a nice lunch!”

“If the girls are OK with that,” Lily nodded, glancing over at Callie and Marie.

“Of course,” Marie said with a smile and a thumbs up. She turned to Roller. “Sorry - I’m glad you and Lily are making up now, but we can’t bring you along.”

“Fair! I gotta go find my real team anyway.” Roller smiled, and hoisted his weapon over his shoulder.

"Shall we head back, then?”

* * *

**Squidbeak Meeting**

“Alright, let’s get started,” Callie announced as she returned a few minutes later, handing out each person a Galactic Seanwich, and finally sitting at the free seat left for her. “It may surprise the two of you to know that as part of our work, the Captain, myself and Marie keep files on certain... people of interest.”

“Yes, and Cap just updated our database. Importantly to you two, he updated one file and added three new ones. Our file on Marina has new info, and he’s made new pages for ‘Agent Eight’, Lily... and a ‘Commander Tartar’.”

Lily’s brow furrowed. “On... me? I’ve never met him...”

“No... but Marina and Pearl have.” Marie looked up at her. “See where I’m going with this?”

Lorne held up a finger, and the others paused as she swallowed her bite of the Seanwich. “So they… know where the Captain is?” She said, putting it together in her head.

“It sure seems like it. But that’s not all. Listen to this new point on Marina’s file. ‘Assisted Agent 8 in defeating Commander Tartar. Masterminded the plan that ultimately saved the world.’”

Lorne slowly turned to Lily. Her friend’s jaw was open. “So… they were… telling the truth then?”

“Wait wait wait,” Lily said suddenly, seeing Lorne’s look of concern at her. “It sounds like what they’ve been saying does have merit, but again, I’ve been with you guys the _whole time_. I’m still not affiliated with—”

Marie put a hand on Lily’s shoulder, and she jumped. “It’s okay Lily. We believe you. We _trust_ you.” She smiled warmly at her, let out a sigh, and consulted her notes. “As it stands though, here’s what we now know. The ‘Agent Eight’ they bragged about at the Arena today is legitimate. He’s one of the enemy troopers that was around when Agent 3 was working with us. And he was within range of the battle when we dropped the Inkantation on DJ Octavio.”

“…OK, and?”

“Lily, for reasons even we don’t know, that song has a powerful energy to it. It gets into your _soul_.”

“Referring back to Marina’s file for a second,” Callie added, leaning forward, “she used to be an engineer building weapons for Octavio. She was also present at that battle, and is quoted in the Captain’s file as saying, _‘This changes everything’_ before going AWOL. Then she turns up above-ground a month later, a changed person. And look at her now.”

“Me and Callie have talked about this and we think that’s what happened to Eight. And that’s why Cap is working with him.” Marie paused for breath. “But here’s the thing. To cut this short, we’ve inadvertently split the Squidbeak Splatoon into two factions. There’s us, who know you as being nice and had no idea of this Tartar creature. Then there’s the Captain, Agents 3 and 8, and Pearl and Marina, who fought this guy, and thinks all humans are dangerous.”

Callie nodded. “So when the girls met you and figured you out, they must have told Cap somehow, only seeing you as a threat.”

“So…” Lorne thought for a moment. “Is there a way that we can fix this? To let the other side know that Lily’s one of us? That she’s safe?”

“There are a couple of things we can do. Me and Marie can add to the Captain’s files, so we’ll go in and fill out Lily’s file a bit more to give him a more complete picture. He also should have your file now, Four, that Marie added during your rescue of the Great Zapfish.”

“Meanwhile, Lily,” Marie continued. “You should get in contact with Pearl and Marina and talk with them. We are going to need them to trust you, but it seems we will also need them to hook us up with Captain Cuttlefish and Agent 3.”

“Oh!” Callie remembered suddenly. “We’re also going to need to get Agent 8 to trust us. That might take some doing…”

“Well he’s… worked with 3, hasn’t he?” Lorne pointed out.

Marie nodded. “Yes, and he’d be wearing our gear, with the headset and… Hmm. Now there’s a thought.” She rubbed her chin slowly. “We could probably make all this easier if we meet them _as_ Squidbeaks, in gear, and not just ourselves. We’d certainly get the point across quicker…”

“Isn’t this supposed to be a secret, though?” Lorne raised an eyebrow. “What we are, what we’re doing?”

“Well, it’s _meant_ to be,” Callie sighed. “I don’t think Pearl, Marina or Eight quite know that though. But that’s why we need to get them on our side. We _need_ to know what happened, and why the Captain felt compelled to reveal its existence.”

“I’ll do what I can to win them over,” Lily smiled. “At least the girls seem more open to the idea of me being around here but… “ She trailed off, having no idea of how to continue the sentence, so she shrugged and began to finish off her Seanwich.

* * *

**Reconciliation**

“Oh, I think I just found it,” Lily piped up as she sat on the couch of their apartment. “It’s on some odd server, but it’s just called ‘Marina’s Chatroom’ and has a bunch of squid and octopus icons as the topic. Does that sound right?”

“From what Marie was saying, yeah.” Lorne joined her on the couch, handing her a dinner plate loaded with food, picking up the TV remote. “So, what, you gonna go in there now or…?”

“I kinda wanna… get it out of the way, yeah.” Lily sighed, and took a bite from the steamed carrot on her plate. “If they ask anything sensitive or I need your help to word something better, I’ll call on you.”

“Sure.” Lorne switched on the TV to some sitcom. “Don’t mind me looking over your shoulder now and then.”

Lily nodded, smiled, and after a deep breath, quietly said “here goes” and clicked the ‘Connect’ button.

MC.Princess> if you're a robot trying to solve this captcha  
* MC.Princess sent image: pipehdhsh.spg  
MC.Princess> do you see a pipe  
MC.Princess> actually damn, a robot probably would  
MC.Princess> a robot trained to recognize images of pipes would think this is a pipe  
MC.Princess> robots are literal babies  
MC.Princess> a robot would think i'm calling it a baby in the last message  
MC.Princess> Idiot. Asshole  
Guest15448 has joined the chatroom  
MC.Princess> uh?  
MC.Princess> DJ_Hyperfresh isn’t the chatroom locked???  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Huh?  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Oh, right— I had to unlock the room to share the chat logs with Octagent before he joined, guess I kinda forgot to put a password on it again…  
DJ_Hyperfresh sets mode +k on #MarinasChatroom  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Sorry, guest - I know you are probably a fan, but this is meant to be a private chatroom. I’ll have to remove you from the room. Sorry again!  
Guest15448> Hang on, before you kick me  
Guest15448> I’m just trying to find an appropriate name  
Guest15448> but I think you will want to talk to me  
MC.Princess> That’s a bold claim  
MC.Princess> You get one nick change  
MC.Princess> Then BLAMMO  
IAmThree> Is this the only chatroom you two have?  
IAmThree> Surely there’s somewhere fans could reach out to you  
MC.Princess> We used to have a public chat in the early days of the band  
MC.Princess> Marina ran that one too  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Yeah, that one got out of hand after some spambots and uh… creepy fans overran the chat. I disowned it  
IAmThree> Creepy?  
DJ_Hyperfresh> They weren’t being PG-13, let’s say that  
IAmThree> Oh no  
IAmThree> I understand  
DJ_Hyperfresh> This guest is taking their time with their name change…  
Guest15448> Sorry sorry  
Guest15448> I was trying to think of an appropriate song title for a username that wasn’t too overt  
Guest15448> But I can’t think of one so screw it it’s Daft Punk time  
* Guest15448 changed nick to HumanAfterAll  
MC.Princess> …huh  
MC.Princess> Well played  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Wait what?  
IAmThree> Oh. So not a fan, then.  
DJ_Hyperfresh> HumanAfterAll: Lily…?  
HumanAfterAll> Yes  
HumanAfterAll> Hello Marina, Pearl  
HumanAfterAll> Damn this brings me back to the IRC days  
Craig_Cuttlefish> HUMAN?!  
MC.Princess> Yes Cap, this is her  
MC.Princess> I guess  
HumanAfterAll> MC.Princess DJ_Hyperfresh: You wanted to talk? Let’s talk.  
HumanAfterAll> I bring this as a peace offering.  
* HumanAfterAll sent a file: CutTheSquid.mp5  
DJ_Hyperfresh> How did you find us?  
IAmThree> Has this chatroom been compromised  
HumanAfterAll> Someone I know stumbled upon this place a while back and recommended it for a private discussion  
HumanAfterAll> Decided to go this way since it would be way more difficult for Pearl to threaten my life again  
MC.Princess> IT WAS ONE TIME  
HumanAfterAll> From the sounds of things I guess these guys already know what’s up, huh  
Craig_Cuttlefish> i need to speak to speak to agents 1 and 2 about their choice in hires  
MC.Princess> Oh wow  
MC.Princess> DJ_Hyperfresh: Check out that file  
MC.Princess> It’s Color Pulse, but remixed with some other song I’ve never heard before  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Is it? Alright let’s take a look…  
HumanAfterAll> Craig_Cuttlefish: Wait you’re the guy huh?  
HumanAfterAll> Wish I could have met you under better circumstances  
HumanAfterAll> Alright so  
HumanAfterAll> Marina talked to me about the whole… Tartar thing  
HumanAfterAll> So now I finally know why you all hate me  
DJ_Hyperfresh> ‘Hate’ is a strong word…  
HumanAfterAll> And after what’s happened the past few days I think it’s best I try to be transparent about myself and where I’m from and stuff  
HumanAfterAll> So… ask me anything, I guess  
MC.Princess> HumanAfterAll: I was gonna ask the other day but  
MC.Princess> y’know we got interrupted  
MC.Princess> Are you working for NILS?  
HumanAfterAll> Isn’t that a loan? Lol  
HumanAfterAll> I actually still don’t know what you mean  
HumanAfterAll> I am working in Inkopolis, just not for whoever that is  
DJ_Hyperfresh> May I ask who you’re working for then?  
HumanAfterAll> Well…  
HumanAfterAll> I can say that it’s to do with finding the things that scattered all over the place when I arrived.  
HumanAfterAll> Since I brought them here it only makes sense that I pick them back up… and hopefully keep anything dangerous that might have come through with me away from those who might use it for evil.  
IAmThree> So there are supposedly ancient weapons out there in the world?  
HumanAfterAll> I’d be surprised if there was, everything I’ve found so far was right around me right before I was pulled into this time.  
HumanAfterAll> The closest thing to a weapon I could see coming through would be… I dunno, a knife or something. Or a bathtub.  
MC.Princess> We already use those as weapons  
HumanAfterAll> No duh, knives are dangerous  
MC.Princess> Bathtubs  
HumanAfterAll> …Pardon?  
MC.Princess> Bloblobbers  
MC.Princess> That’s what Sheldon calls them, but everyone knows what they’re made from  
HumanAfterAll> …  
HumanAfterAll> Incredible  
IAmThree> I don’t remember those  
IAmThree> Are those new?  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Oh yeah relatively new to the market  
MC.Princess> OH here’s something  
MC.Princess> You told me once that humans couldn’t shapeshift  
MC.Princess> So why are you an inkling, yo?  
HumanAfterAll> It’s sorta… to do with how I got here  
HumanAfterAll> But when I was transported from my time to Inkopolis, I was like, way above the ground and I just fell.  
HumanAfterAll> And it turns out, squid ink affects the human body like a virus or something.  
HumanAfterAll> So when I landed, I landed in ink and… yeah  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Fascinating! I’ve never heard of that happening before! Are you sure you’re not making that up?  
HumanAfterAll> I have the medical documentation, someone looked into it for us  
HumanAfterAll> The long and short of it is: y'all evolved and changed over the millenia, and I am... I was... the same creature from however long ago  
HumanAfterAll> I can drop by the studio tomorrow if you want and show you  
DJ_Hyperfresh> That would be good!  
DJ_Hyperfresh> So since you’re here and that hotel thing happened… is the car that was on the Albacore roof yours?  
HumanAfterAll> Yeah… the car is mine  
HumanAfterAll> I kinda wish I had more opportunity to check it out and reminisce…  
DJ_Hyperfresh> I… don’t think they’ve sold or donated it yet. I dunno what’s gonna happen with it.  
DJ_Hyperfresh> And you… actually seem fairly decent  
HumanAfterAll> Gee thanks  
Craig_Cuttlefish> im not convinced  
IAmThree> You seem fairly forthcoming, at least…  
HumanAfterAll> I mean… I feel like I gotta be as honest as I can be  
MC.Princess> Look, if we organised some hangout after the Splatfest, do you wanna just… start over or something?  
DJ_Hyperfresh> MC.Princess: You reckon we could pull some strings and get that car somewhere private for us all to check out properly? Somewhere out of town maybe?  
MC.Princess> There’s a dirt track in the forests nearby Camp Triggerfish we could mess around on…  
MC.Princess> It’s way easier tho to bring it onto our property  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Mm, true.  
DJ_Hyperfresh> HumanAfterAll: How would you feel about visiting us at Pearl’s place to do that and get to know each other properly?  
DJ_Hyperfresh> If it would let you feel better about it, you are welcome to bring along a trusted friend or two

Lily looked up at Lorne. “We’re in, they just invited me to hang out at their place to reconcile and take a better look at the car.”

“Eeehh… Maybe we should bring the Sisters with us too or something. Y’know, really make sure they don’t try anything if this is a trick.”

“Well that’s why we go in gear, right?"

HumanAfterAll> I will consider it. I’ll drop off a response by the Square sometime soon  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Cool. I look forward to it!  
DJ_Hyperfresh> That… mashup of yours is actually pretty good, btw. You a musician?  
HumanAfterAll> I wish. Just mashups. I wish I knew enough music theory to create my own stuff…  
HumanAfterAll> I just make stuff like that for fun  
HumanAfterAll> Set mixes too, they’re real fun to do  
DJ_Hyperfresh> Nice! Got any sample work?  
HumanAfterAll> Nothing I could send over really… It’s all on my laptop and… yeah… I'm guessing MP3 files are not something I can share easily  
HumanAfterAll> I should save up for a more modern computer really


	5. Reunion (Scrapped Scenes from Part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first, Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 3 were not going to appear in person at all in Part 2. I won't spoil the circumstance of why - it is still part of the plot for this part of the story, but may not come up for a while - but instead the Cap'n would summon the others down to the Metro, and everyone would reunite there.
> 
> Clearly this is before they turned up in Part 2, and while this isn't really part of Part 2's story, the way it went means I can't use this scene anymore. Enjoy!

When the last of the group had completed their descent onto the elevator, at its resting place on the lowest floor, they all looked around.

Down here, only the emergency lighting seemed to be on - red fluorescent tubes dimly lit the floor and any exit signs they saw pointed, ironically enough, to the crashed elevator. 

“Hrrrmm…” Marina seemed unsure as they all stepped onto the walkway, looking at her phone, checking the chatroom for instructions. “I don’t remember seeing this part of the facility on Eight’s feed.”

“Sounded like the Captain is directing us through an administrative area to get to our meeting point,” Callie thought aloud, hoisting her Roller back onto her shoulder.

“So long as we don’t run into anything,” Lorne said, scoping out the area as they walked, “I don’t care how we get there.”

“We shouldn’t,” Eight noted, walking beside her. “Many of the threats I was seeing down here was digital.”

“Then… why are you carrying your weapon too?” Lorne smirked at him.

“…Just to be safe.”

“I’m… not sure how much I like being down here myself,” Pearl grumbled, nervously holding her Dualies. “Had enough of this place just watching.”

As they talked, Lily walked behind them, examining the area quietly, stepping carefully. 

A short ways away from the elevator they came to a security door that blocked their path, with a card reader beside it. On the ground beneath it though, someone had helpfully left behind a card, and a handheld device.

Marina picked them both up, recognising them, showing the rest of the group. “Agent 3 left these for us. I think we can use them to get around this area.” She swiped the card through the reader, and tried the handle. They heard the sound of the lock disengaging, and it opened obediently as Marina pushed against it. Once the group had entered, she let go of the door and a mechanism pulled the door shut, re-engaging the lock.

The floor in this area had turned from grated metal to linoleum. The corridor led past a singular doorway as it stretched about a hundred meters across. A sign above them, also in English, told Lily that straight ahead was a tram system to the “Central Station / Testing Interchange”.

“Hey,” Marie spoke up. “Can anybody read that?”

Pearl turned to Lily expectantly. “Someone ought to.”

“Huh?” Lily looked confused for a moment, before she understood. “Oh, right. I’m gonna have to get into the habit of translating, huh? Straight ahead will take us to the Central Station. Is that where we need to go?”

“That’s it,” Marina nodded. “Cap and Agent 3 will meet us there. Forward we go.”

As they walked past the doorway in the middle of the hallway, Lily took a look at the writing on the doorway. It was also in English and said, “Administration”. Lily pointed it out.

“Why would Tartar need a separate building for this sorta thing?” Lorne asked them.

“If this facility has been around since humans were around,” Marina pointed out, “I would bet that he was probably surveilled by humans to keep from running amok.”

“Pshhh.” Lily was skeptical. “I bet they knew exactly what they were doing. The humans in power always loved playing politics with life.”

Pearl and Marina exchanged concerned looks. “Do you… have any kind words for humans nowadays?” Pearl asked Lily, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean… yeah. Many humans are incredible people. Just… in my belief, a lot of the people who are in any kind of position of influence aren’t there to serve the will of the people, let’s say. These guys,” she held up her iPhone, with a Discord chatroom open, “are some of my best friends and I love them to death, and if I had a chance to show them this world I know they would love you guys. But, they don’t work in government. Y’know?”

“Er… maybe?” Marina was slightly perplexed.

* * *

There was a tram already waiting for them when they emerged from the hallway into the station. It seemed to be intended for employees only, and was nicely kept.

As they boarded and took their seats, Marina noticed another card reader, and she swiped the card Agent 3 had left them. “Hey, Lily…?”

“Mmm?”

“More human text.”

“Oh, one sec.” Lily came over to have a look and read the screen next to the reader.

‘EMERGENCY MODE: Please connect and use your CQ80 to select your destination.’

“It wants something called a CQ80,” Lily told her. “We got anything like that?”

“Oh, that’s no problem.” Marina pulled out the device that had been left for the group. “What do I do with it?”

“It wants you to connect it to the reader terminal somehow and select the destination.”

“Hmm, alright.” She pulled out one of the antennae on the CQ80 and, after some looking, plugged the end into a slot on the reader. Then she clicked a button on the CQ device that had been left for them, and a display materialised in front of them.

Lily gasped and stared incredulously at what she was seeing. It was like a screen, just floating in mid air… The CQ80 was displaying a list of stops on a single train line, all in English. On one end was ‘Administration / Surface’, which pulsed as this was where they already were. Along the line were the stops ‘Maintenance’, ‘R&D’, ‘Dormitories’, ‘Munitions Depot’ and finally ‘Central Station Interchange’.

Lily pointed at the last stop on their map. “I guess that’s where we’re headed, that’s the Central Station.”

“Yep! Alright, I’ll lock that in.” Marina used the cursor on the device to select the last point on the map, and as soon as she did, the tram rumbled to life, lights flicking on, its engine roaring to life.

* * *

They pulled into the station eventually, and as Lily looked up from her iPhone as the tram slowed to a halt and its doors opened.

“Now arriving at: Central Station and Kamabo Corp Testing Interchange,” the tram’s loudspeaker announced. “Thank you for using the NILS Employee Transit System. Remember: the future of our planet is in your hands.” 

Lily grumbled as they alighted from the tram, and looked around. The station itself didn’t seem too strange - they were standing on a central platform that connected both trains, and there was one more on the far side of each train. Billboards, graffiti and stickers abounded, on the walls, the floors… 

In the middle of the central platform, about ten meters away from the group, the shattered glass remains of something lay strewn about. The giant black object knocked over looked like the base of whatever it used to be. Next to it was another busted Tartar interface. This one, interestingly, was devoid of any goo, unlike the one they had seen on the statue proper.

Lily noticed a shimmer of light shining upon that area. She looked up, and noticed the hole in the ceiling above them. And through that… though some of the structure of the Statue was visible from here, she also clearly saw the surface of the water, far above them. She wondered to herself just how they were protected from the water down here, but didn’t think on it too much.

Looking back down, she noticed that Marina, Pearl, Callie and Marie had stopped, and she looked around them to see what was up.

Ahead of them was three people. Agent 8, who’d gone ahead to meet the other two again, smiling. An elderly-looking man in green and holding a walking stick. And…

A mature-looking Inkling boy, in a hi-vis vest and headgear just like hers and Lorne’s.

“Grandpa!” Callie cried out happily as she and Marie ran over excitedly to embrace the old man. “It’s been so long! Are you alright?”

“He’s more than fine, he’s AOK!” Pearl spat, striking a pose at him.

Lily was amazed to see him not miss a beat and strike a similar pose, rapping in response, “For all of Inkopolis, I can go all day!”

“NICE!” Pearl threw finger guns at him. “Good to see ya, Cap.”

“And it’s great to see all of you too,” Captain Cuttlefish said with a smile. “Especially you two,” he said to his granddaughters, as Callie and Marie walked up to hug him. “I’m just fine, Agent 1, thank you for asking. But if I may…” His gaze turned to Lorne and Lily, and he began to approach them, “are these two…?”

“Allow me,” Marie said, and walked over to the two girls, placing a hand on Lorne’s shoulder. “This is Agent 4, pops. Real name Lorne. Octavio tried to make off with the Great Zapfish again, and with Three out with you, well…” 

Cuttlefish simply sighed and shook his head. “He’ll never learn, will he?”

“Probably not.” Marie smirked, and then placed her hand on Lily’s shoulder instead. “And this is Agent 5, real name Lily. She, uh—”

“Lily, you say?” He perked up at the mention of the name. He began to examine Lily intently, prodding at seemingly random spots on her body with the cane. “Yes, I’ve heard aaaall about her.”

“Uh-!” Lily frowned, brows furrowed. This vaguely reminded her of Agent 4 when she had first arrived. “It’s, um… it’s not a disguise, sir,” she said awkwardly.

"Again, Gramps," Marie sighed, "we've already vetted her. She's a good person. You’ve read our file, I assume"

“She’s already tangled with Octavio’s forces a couple times in the name of Inkopolis and come out on top,” Callie pointed out.

“Hrrrm. If you say so… Well, human? Will you continue to fight for us and for Inkopolis?” The Captain eyed her expectantly.

Lily just stood there, confused. I’d already gotten this far, and you’re asking me this now? She raised an eyebrow at him, turning her hands palms-up. You serious, guy?

And yet, Cuttlefish smiled warmly. “I’ll… take your stunned silence as a yes! But I’ll be keeping an eye on you, lil’ missy.” Cap gestured with two fingers towards his eyes, then pointed them at Lily.

“Whatever you gotta do, man,” Lily rolled her eyes. “I’m just glad we’re finally on the same side here.”

Marie audibly let out a sigh of relief

“What are you and Three doing down here in this creepy old place, anyway?” Callie asked, glancing around.

“It wasn’t really by choice,” Three finally spoke up, having simply observed til now. “Cuttlefish and I were tidying up some stragglers after the battle with Octavio and ended up fighting who you now know as Agent Eight. And then… all any of us really know is something crashed into us and destroyed the platform we were battling on, so we all fell… and then ended up crashing our way into this place.”

“Three, that battle was a long time ago.” Marie’s brows furrowed in concern. “You… do know how long it’s been, right?”

“I know. We were trapped in the Metro since.”

“Three and I got separated for a long time, and I suspect being stuck on that train,” Craig glanced behind him at the Metro train, old and graffiti’d up, “warped my perception of time some.”

“I’ll say.” Marie rolled her eyes.

“So what about Eight, then?” Lorne was curious. “How did you two come to work together? I know about the Inkantation, but I don’t quite see how that translates to him becoming an Agent.”

“Necessity.” Craig shrugged. “Both of us were knocked about by the fall, I was separated from Three, and I’ve grown too old to fight. I gave him my trust once I saw that he had been touched by the Inkantation.”

“And you two?” Marie turned to Pearl and Marina. “When’d you get involved?”

“Oooof…” Marina thought hard. “Probably…about a year and a half ago? Pearlie and I had gone up Mount Nantai for a picnic and some celebration after the success of our first album, ‘cause that’s where we first met…” The idol exhaled sharply. “Wow, that was such a different time back then. That was… not long after the two of us met.”

“Yeah, we get up there,” Pearl continued with a grin. “And we’re having a good time when this old radio Marina carries in her bag goes off with this old fella’s distress call. We get in touch and, yeah, we were helping them out from then til they got out.”


	6. Tainted ("Vivid Memories" Alternate Scene)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The meeting between Lily and Commander Tartar was one that has been brainstormed and worked on for quite a long time. But the revelation that Lily would ultimately tear him to shreds was recent (within the last month or two of the fic).
> 
> At first I did not plan for the two to be linked together briefly, or for the rest of her friends to rescue her from him. Initially Tartar would have pushed her over the edge with his words, causing her to attack, and the others would only *hear* the destruction over the radio. This was never written, but inspired this scene: Surely the others would think something was wrong. _Did she get brought under his control, just like Agent 3...?_

When Lily returned to where she had left the group, there was nobody there to greet her.

Not that the others had setup any kind of campsite, but this was definitely where she had left them. And now they'd left her...? Even Lorne...? What the hell!

She huffed in annoyance as she reached for her radio, only for a voice to call out from it: "Place your weapons on the ground." It was Marina's voice, calm, measured.

Lily's brows furrowed, and slowly she did what she was told. Once the Dualies were safely on the ground, she again reached for her radio, only to be interrupted again: "Hands behind your back."

She picked up the radio first, keying the transmit button. "What's this about, guys...?" She placed the radio in its holster and, figuring that they were watching her from somewhere, but unsure why, she slowly rested her hands comfortably behind her back.

Someone was immediately there to tie her wrists together, and she felt the uncomfortable buzz of a Disruptor as it was placed on her back. "On your knees," came Remo's voice behind her.

She tried to turn her head to face him, but he firmly gripped her head, forcing her to look forward as he pushed her down, forcing her to kneel, facing the empty forest path. "Agent 3, the fuck is going on here?"

But he ignored her. He keyed his mic, noticing Lily's stained hand. "He got her. Right hand. Up to the wrist."

"Oh, dear..." That was Craig's voice over the radio this time. "Is she... Herself?"

Lily's head snapped up. _That was an odd comment from him... What did they think was going on?_

Two people emerged from the trees along the path ahead of her.

Marina and Pearl.

The latter had her Dualies in both hands.

They came up to her restrained body, and Remo gestured to Marina to look at Lily's hand. "We're determining that. One sec."

Before she walked around her and out of her sight, Lily's eyes met Marina's.

And noticed that she looked almost fearful.

That took Lily by surprise. She glanced around in confusion, and eventually focused on Pearl, who was watching her carefully with the Dualies up. She also seemed to be... worried.

Lily winced as Marina's fingers brushed her hand, causing a new stinging sensation to erupt throughout. Lily hissed through clenched teeth as the pain coursed through the hand. "Ggghh, fuck. Don't. It hurts."

"We just reached the site," Lorne reported in through the radio. "He's, uh... He's not tickin' anymore."

"What do you mean, 'not ticking'?" Marina replied, right by Lily's ear.

"I _mean_ he's been torn to pieces. His front panel's come off. His computer bits inside are either in pieces or were ripped out. That hand crack that was on his side is stabbed right through the main computery board. Tartar is most certainly gone."

"I'm sorry, did you _want_ him alive?!" Lily spat to nobody in particular, starting to get frustrated at being treated like this. "You could've said something!"

"That's a motherboard, Four." Marina walked back out in front of Lily, and knelt down in front of her, worried look still on her face. "What's your name?" She asked Lily.

"...Are you serious, Marina?!"

"Answer the question," Pearl pushed her, waving the Dualies in front of Lily's face.

Lily grumbled to herself momentarily, before speaking to them. She was boiling with anger, and she was feeling herself having to hold her tongue, having to hold back the pit of fury welling up again. _Why would they treat me like this?_ "My name is Lily. _...Or_ , yes, Simon, now that you know. I REFUSE to be called that anymore."

"Where are we?" Marina asked, again calmly, despite her face telling a different story.

"Fuckin'... Triggerfish Forest." We spent like two hours on the train. Another hour just walking out to this spot."

Marina glanced somewhere behind Lily, presumably to Remo, who was still keeping her on her knees. "What's your feeling on humans?" he asked from behind her.

"Still some really cool humans back in the day man," Lily replied matter-of-factly, then paused for a few seconds. And against her better judgment, followed it up with, "Whoever made Tartar who he was though... deserves the death I gave their precious machine." She snarled as she said the last few words.

Marina sighed deeply, shaking her head. "I was _this close_ to letting Three unbind you, Five... What's gotten into you?" She leaned toward Lily, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I know Tartar was trying to work you up, but I've... I've never heard you like this before. Everyone's worried about you... And a little scared, honestly."

Lily's brows narrowed. "Scared...?"

"Have you even heard yourself in the last... ten minutes, kid?" Pearl pointed out, as she finally lowered the Dualies. "We all thought you'd lost it..."

Lily glared at her. They could almost _feel_ the hate dripping off her. She spoke without thinking. She was _not_ in control of herself. "Then _put me down_ , Pearl. If you've got the balls for it. I know you're aching to."

"Agent 5." Remo piped in behind her. Lily could hear him rummaging around a bag of some kind. Marina glanced up at him, and his face dropped.

"Yes?"

"Kindly shut the fuck up."

Lily's head whipped round to face him, about to mouth off at him too. She tested the movement of her legs for just a moment, and then, seeing they were free, kicked out at him with both feet. "How _dare_ you?!"

Remo saw enough to anticipate what she was going to do, and pushed backwards. The kick caught him though, at its edge, and he stumbled, the item he was holding knocked out of his hand.

It was a glass jar.

Marina caught it. "Alright, enough of this," she said grumpily to Lily who, having used her one attack, was now on her front in the dirt, unable to get up. "Pearl, do it. Before she gets any other ideas."

"DO IT?" Pearl was taken aback. "Marina, are you crazy?! I can't kill her! What about the others?!"

"Just trust me! We need to incapacitate her, _now._ We know what we're doing."

Pearl's eyes flickered between Marina, Lily and Remo. "Ah, jeez..."

She squeezed down on the Dualie triggers.

As Lily was splattered in a burst of Pearl's pink ink, Marina opened the jar, watched the cloud of ink particles fade as something emerged, and tried to fly away.

Marina swung at it with the jar as soon as she saw it, and caught it effortlessly, screwing the lid back on. "Got her."

"Got her...?" Pearl's eyes were drawn to the jar, and she stepped closer.

Caught inside the glass jar was a sky blue squid spirit, trying furiously to escape.

Pearl let out a deep sigh of relief, realising.

They'd caught Lily's spirit. They could transport her and not worry about her attacking them.

"Good thinking, Three..." Marina said sadly, watching the spirit in the jar. "And I'm sorry that we had to do that, Five... I hope that you'll forgive me once you've calmed down..."


End file.
